Talkeetna

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This charming pioneer town, with its own-block-long Main Street, is halfway between Anchorage to Denali, and offers tons of adventures as well as great views of Mt. McKinley (it’s actually closer to the mountain than Denali’s Park entrance is).

Other than the mountain views, Talkeetna is also home to the convergence of three major glacial rivers, which makes for great excursions, whether by air on a flightseeing or zipline tour, land, or by water on a jet boat tour or rafting trip. At a minimum, choose one flightseeing tour and one river tour. There are only a limited number of escorted tours and small group escorted tours here: but it’s very easy to explore on your own.

Getting Here

People often stop here for the night on the way to Denali, but Talkeetna is also a popular getaway for locals in Anchorage: 2 ½ hours by car, and 3 hours by Alaska Railroad (by car, Denali is then three hours from Talkeetna, or 4.5 hours by train). For more details see our advice article on getting between Anchorage and Talkeetna.